Library Overview

Special collections are a defining characteristic of the University of Texas, with world renowned collections at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the Center for American History, and the Nettie Lee Benson Latin American Collection. The Ransom Center has as its major emphasis the study of the literature and culture of the United States, Great Britain, and France. Its collections contain some 30 million leaves of manuscripts, over 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, 3,000 pieces of historical photographic equipment, and 100,000 works of art, in addition to major holdings in theater arts and film. The Ransom Center offers scholars opportunities for such diverse study as 13th-century Italian verse, early map renderings of the moon, European broadsides, 17th-century English dramatic poetry, early developments in micro-photography, avant-garde theater design, modern French musical composition, literary portraiture, the art of caricature, censorship in Hollywood, and the work of contemporary African novelists. The Center for American History sponsors and supports teaching, research, and public education in United States history. It acquires, preserves, and makes available for research archival, artifact, and rare book collections and sponsors exhibitions, conferences, video documentaries, oral history projects, grant-funded research, and publications. The center's research collections strengths are the history of Texas, the South, the Southwest, and the Rocky Mountain West, the history of the University of Texas, congressional history, and specific national-in-scope topics, including media history and the history of the professional touring entertainment industry.

University of Texas Libraries
University of Texas at Austin
Post Office Box P
Austin, Texas 78713-8916
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/
(512) 495-4350 (t)
(512) 495-4347 (f)